


How to Deal: A Field Guide

by Stromesquad



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 09:19:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13210704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stromesquad/pseuds/Stromesquad
Summary: There are 2,772 kilometers between Edmonton and Phoenix. That is 22 days by walking, 25 hours of driving with no stops, or 3 and a half hour flight. All of these things are impossible. So how do you deal?





	How to Deal: A Field Guide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lovestella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovestella/gifts).



> This is for Ash. You have been such a wonderful friend. Thank you for everything you do for me. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to Heather, Lottie, and Ang for their comments and their editing

Sometimes, Connor can't believe how hard he fell for Dylan Strome. It wasn't like some people say, slowly, then all at once. It was in an instant, the snap of a finger, the words “Hi, I’m Dylan,” and Connor wouldn't change it for the world. Not for a single second. Not for how it's a quiet secret, held alone and close to his heart. 

*****

There are 2,772 kilometers between Edmonton and Phoenix. That is 22 days by walking, 25 hours of driving with no stops, or 3 and a half hour flight. All of these things are impossible. So how does one deal with being in love with their best friend who is that far away? If you are Connor McDavid, you try to ignore it and hope absence does not, in fact, make the heart grow fonder. Connor is an expert at ignoring his feelings for Dylan Strome but it's his third day of college and he is homesick. So sue him for thinking about his best friend. So far, absence is not helping. He's laying on a bench in the quad, head pillowed on his backpack, headphones in, listening to Joni Mitchell and moping about this sad state of affairs when a frisbee hits him directly in the face.

“Ouch,” Connor grumbles, rubbing his nose as he sits up.

“Dude! I am so sorry! Ebby’s never missed a catch like that before,” says a tall, solidly built young man with wide blue eyes.

“It’s okay. I'm fine. No bleeding.” Connor recognizes the guy standing in front of him.

“Hi, I’m…” the guy says.

“Taylor,” Connor interrupts. “You're my RA.”

“Oh yeah, that's right. Connor, right? That sounds right.”

“Yup, Connor.” He smiles.

“Call me Hallsy. The skinny one is Nuge, and that guy with the teeth is Ebby,” Taylor smirks. “Guys, this is Connor. He's one of my baby froshs.”

“Hey kid,” the guy called Nuge sits down on the bench next to Connor. “I'm Ryan, but you can call me Nuge if you want. Ultimate frisbee nickname,” Nuge smiles. 

The other guy, Ebby, walks over and sticks out his hand to shake. “Jordan, or Ebs. Say, ever played ultimate frisbee? We lost a couple players to graduation.”

“I've, um, never played before but I'll try?” 

“Cool. Wanna try now? We're just throwing it around right now but come join us!” Hallsy says while pumping his fist in the air and smiling too wide for his face. 

****

Connor, it turns out, is very, very good at frisbee. He has good arm, and good aim. The boys invite him to meet the team later that afternoon.

“This is going to be pretty sick. The team is going to love you,” Ebs says, smiling wide. “We could win the intramural league this year maybe.”

Ebs is right, the team takes to Connor right away, especially when they see his chemistry with Leon. They don't miss a pass the entire practice. And Leon is… handsome. Connor may be in love with his best friend but Leon is like Disney Prince good looking and at the end of practice, he winks at Connor while he's tying his shoes. Connor dies just a little bit. 

*****

Connor is skyping Dylan a week into the semester when his roommate is finally gone. 

“Connor, I'm going to murder him. I'm just. One of us is not going to survive this semester and I'm bigger. I'll be the one left standing.” Dylan scowls. Connor can't help but laugh a little. Dylan is always a little too quick to judge and doesn't always recognize when someone has the potential to be a friend. 

“What's so wrong with him Dyls?”

“He's loud. He never shuts up. He smiles too much. And he's a MORNING PERSON. A morning person, Connor. He gets up at 7:00 am and goes to the gym. We're in COLLEGE! No one is a morning person and no one is that chipper. No one.” 

“Not everyone's a grump like you. Some of us wake up…” Connor gasps. “Before 9:00. You should probably try to make nice. You're stuck together for at least a year.”

“Fine,” Dylan says, dragging out the vowel. “It's just. He's in all my classes so I never get a break. He's always around and I want like 5 minutes of quiet that’s not in the shower, ya know?”

Connor really doesn't. His roommate has a girlfriend that lives across campus and is never home. Hallsy doesn't always give him a lot of peace but it's kind of welcome. 

“Just give it time. I think he'll grow on you eventually.” 

Dylan shrugs. “How was class today?”

They go back and forth for a bit until Dylan launches into a story about witnessing some big epic breakup on the quad and Connor lets it wash over him, basking in the comfort of his best friend's voice. He misses Dylan more than he can say.

****

Connor is at a party at the house of a couple of guys on the Frisbee team. He’s pretty sure Leon and Nurse live here. He's a little drunk, well probably a lot judging by the typos in the text he's trying to send Dylan. Leon comes over, drink in hand, crooked smile on his face. 

“Who are you texting?” he asks a little slurred around the edges, just on the right side of drunk but not wasted.

“Just Dylan,” Connor looks up and Leon is very, very close. Their shoulders are brushing and Leon is looking at Connor with maybe a little heat in his gaze but Connor can't be trusted with that right now. Connor angles in towards him and Leon leans in a little more. Connor's breathing is a little short and he's not sure why but they are very, very close and then his phone rings. They spring apart. 

“Oh it's Dylan. So I'm going to um.. go… um.. answer that.” He knows he's blushing. He blushes pretty easy to begin with but it's worse when he's drunk but it's okay because Dylan is calling and Dylan will always be Connor's favorite person. He tells him so when he answers his phone.

“Wow, bud, you are very drunk.” Dylan laughs. 

“Umm… maybe?” Connor says. “I've had a few. I played beer pong with Hallsy and we lost very bad and loser had to do shots. So…”

“Are you having a good time?”

“So much fun. I think Leon was flirting with me?” 

Dylan is silent for a moment. “I'm glad you're having a good time but I gotta go. Go find Hallsy and make him give you a glass of water, okay?” And he hangs up.

Connor feels like he's missing something.

****

Classes are hard and Frisbee takes up way more time than Connor expected. These guys are very very serious about winning the intramural championship this year so it's over week before Connor gets to skype Dylan again. 

“Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. Too busy for me Davo?”

“Hey, you've been pretty busy yourself.” 

They chat for a while about the normal stuff for a bit and then Dylan says, “You were right about Mitch. He's actually pretty great.”

“I'm glad. I hear it's easier when you get along.” Connor smiles. He knew this would happen. Dylan's a people person at heart no matter how much he grumps. 

“He takes good notes and I like having someone to study with. And it turns out he's a pretty good cuddle buddy. You're still better though.”

Connor's jealous but he smiles for Dylan. “Glad to still be king.” 

****

It’s a rainy Tuesday and frisbee practice is cancelled, so the team goes for lunch. Connor is sitting between Hallsy and Nuge when Taylor starts talking, loud enough for the entire table to hear.

“So how’s your boyfriend?” he asks.

“Oh, Dylan is great. He got a 95 on his bio exam yesterday. He wants to be a physical therapist, so I'm glad he's doing so well. It's not easy to get into… wait did you just call Dylan my boyfriend? He's not my boyfriend. He's just my best friend,” Connor feels himself blushing, and not just a pink face, skipping that and going to straight to a very embarrassing shade of scarlet. If there was ever a way to announce your feelings in front of a bunch of bros, this was probably it but Connor refuses to hide so he tries to brush it off. “I don't currently have a boyfriend,” he says. 

He catches Leon’s eye across the table and Leon smiles at him, both a little shy and a lot hopeful. Connor doesn't know what to make of that but Leon has a pretty smile. He's nice to look at, Leon, so of course Connor looks away, blushing again, but hopefully this time a little less obviously.

*****  
Leon asks Connor on a date. Connor obviously says yes because who doesn't say yes to an over 6 ft handsome German beefcake of a man who is also premed. You just say yes.

He tells Dylan about and Dylan is, like, a little weird but also he had a quiz that he bombed in bio lab so.

*****

The date with Leon goes well. They have a lot of fun at the batting cages and then a good dinner. Conversation is easy. It's not that Connor is completely surprised that it went well, since they play great together, but this is different. Connor doesn't have much in the way of experience with being in the closet for most of high school and in love with Dylan for the rest. Leon insists on walking Connor back to his dorm after. He kisses him gently. 

“I had a really great time tonight.” Leon flashes a grin, softer than Connor is used to. 

“Me too,” Connor says blushing. “Thanks.”

“Maybe we should do this again sometime?”

“Yeah, that sounds…” Connor pauses for a moment as a picture of Dylan laughing flashes across his mind. He needs to move on Leon is offering something more than friends. So it feels like the right thing when Connor finishes. “That sounds like a great idea.” 

Leon leans for another kiss and then squeezes Connor’s hand. “I’ll call you.” 

Connor goes back up to his room and calls Dylan. Dylan picks up almost instantly, even though it's getting late and Connor knows he has an 8:00 am chem lecture tomorrow. 

“Hey Davo! How'd it go?” Dylan is smiling but it's his fake one, the one he reserves for people he doesn't like or in places where he's uncomfortable. Connor is a little worried.

“Dyls, are you okay?” he asks, brows furrowed.

“Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just stress. Getting towards midterms. Tell me about your date.”

“It was amazing! We went to the batting cages and then out for dinner. He loves hockey almost as much as we do. Oh, and he is premed. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. He’s really smart, and funny. He kissed me...” Connor trails off as Dylan's face changes. Connor curses the distance. He used to know what Dylan was thinking all the time and now he can’t read him at all.

“Dylan, are you sure you're okay? You look…” Connor doesn't know what to say. The pause is awkward and tense. Dylan should be happy for him. Instead he looks resentful. 

“Dylan you look… mad? Are you mad at me?”

“No,” Dylan says, tersely. “Go on. Continue. Tell me aaaaaall about how perfect Leon is.” 

Dylan is definitely angry and Connor has no idea why. 

“Why are you so mad, Dyls? Did I do something wrong?” 

“It’s fine. Go ahead.” If anything Dylan is scowling harder.

“Dylan, you’re pissed. Can you please just tell me why?”

“I don't like this. I don't like Leon.”

“How can you not like him? You've never met him?”

“Well, he sounds like some pretentious douche. I don't know why you would want to even go on a date with someone like that.”

The words feel like a slap. Connor touches his face like there's a phantom sting. “Why can't you just be happy for me? This is the first time I have ever been asked out on a date. I was so excited to tell you about it. Why are you acting like this?” 

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Dylan, wait! Just tell me what's wrong.”

“I can't tell you that.”

“I thought we were best friends. I thought we tell each other everything.”

“Not this,” Dylan says quietly. “Connor, I tell you everything, but not this.”

“Dylan, just tell me. This is fucking stupid.”

“I can't, Davo. Please, please don't make me say it.”

“You're supposed to trust me!” Connor is angry. They aren't supposed to be like this. This is Connor’s worst fear, that Dylan doesn’t actually accept him for who he is. It's unthinkable, but Connor has to know. 

“Stop being an asshole. If you're going to be pissed at me for going on dates, I deserve to fucking know Dylan. I did absolutely nothing other than be myself. Are you upset that I went on a date with a dude? You knew I was gay. Is it different now that I'm actually acting on it?”

“You really fucking wanna find, out Davo? You really wanna know,” Dylan shouts.

“I probably fucking should. If my best friend is secretly a homophobe I should know.” They’re both screaming. Connor is pretty sure his neighbors can hear them through the walls which is just the icing on top of the shit cake that is this conversation.

“I'M IN FUCKING LOVE WITH YOU.” And Dylan hangs up. 

Connor tries Skyping. He tries calling. He tries texting. He even calls Mitch. No response. Connor has been in love with Dylan for 2 years, 11 months, and 17 days and he blew it. Just as he found out his feelings were returned. 

*****

Connor knocks on Taylor’s door, barely holding back the tears. He loses it the second the door is open. Taylor pulls him inside quickly and gently settles Connor onto the couch.

“What happened, bud?” Taylor asks gently.

“I… I… oh god, I fucked everything up. I did everything wrong and Dylan hates me now. He hates me and he never wants to speak to me again. I… I don't… I don’t know what to do, Hallsy. I don't know what to do.” Connor sobs and Taylor pulls him into a tight hug. 

“We can unfuck it. We’ll figure it out.”

“I would need to see him. I need to see him to fix this and he's over a thousand miles away. We won't…” Connor hiccups. “By the time we go home, it’ll be too late. If he doesn't hate me now he will by then.” 

“Can you tell me what happened? We can fix this. We're a team, eh? We’ll get Nuge and Ebby. We’ll help you fix this. We got this.” Taylor rubs Connor's back and Connor pulls away.

“I just, I need to see him Hallsy and I just don't know if there’s a way.”

“There’s always a way. We’ll get you there.”

*****

There are 2,772 kilometers between Edmonton and Phoenix. That is 22 days by walking, 25 hours of driving with no stops, or 3 and a half hour flight. All of these things **seem** impossible but aren't if Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are your friends. If Taylor Hall didn't have an SUV with a back seat you can take turns sleeping in, or if all of you hadn't saved up at least ⅔ of the money from your summer jobs. But Connor's in luck. 

They all pile into Hallsy’s car, packed in with all the junk food and cans of Red Bull they could find, and drive. They take turns driving and napping have to stop like 10 times for gas. Once they coast into a station in rural Idaho on fumes. They stop at 2 Timmy's, 3 McDonald's and a Dunkin Donuts (for the record Timmy’s is way better).

It takes about 28 hours but they get there at around 1:00 am. Connor gets dropped off at Dylan’s dorm while the others go find a hotel and crash. He sneaks in with a group of students that must be coming back from the library saving him from making the awkward phone call that Dylan might not even answer. 

****

Connor knocks on the door to Dylan's room, hands shaking, palms slick with sweat. He hopes Dylan doesn’t hate him now, doesn’t think Connor resents him. There’s only one way to know. Dylan answers the door looking a little disheveled and a lot surprised.

“What are you…” 

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Connor interrupts. “Why, Dyls?”

Dylan sighs and pulls Connor into the room and collapses down on his desk chair. “Rather keep it to myself than lose you. You are important to me and I was—I am happy to have you in any way I can. How could you think I was a homophobe, though? You should know me well enough to know that.”

Connor shrugs. “I didn't, not really. I trust you, I was just scared I was losing you and didn't know why.”

“You don't have to be scared, I'm not going anywhere.” Dylan pauses and shoots Connor a mildly amused smile. “Why did you come down here? I would have called you today. I just needed some time to process, you know?”

Connor smiles, shy, “I had something important to tell you.” 

Dylan raises an eyebrow. 

“I love you, Dylan. I have been in love with you since the day we met. And I wanted to say that in person because I wanted to kiss you after. So I'm like, gonna do that now... Yeah.” 

Connor walks over, mouth going a little dry, heart racing, and bends down. He kisses Dylan, soft and sweet and slow. Dylan pulls him down into his lap and deepens the kiss. It's a messy thing, filled with the desperation of 2 years longing, 2 years with no hope, but always, always worth it. 

When they pull apart, they rest their foreheads together, breathing the same air and just basking in each other’s presence. 

“How did you even get here?” Dylan finally asks. 

“We um... drove. Hallsy has this old beat up SUV and we just… drove.” Connor yawns. 

“How long have you been up?” 

“Umm… like 40 hours? I think?” 

“Oh my God. I can't believe you.” Dylan sounds exasperated but he's smiling huge and wide. “Come on, let's go to bed.” 

They get undressed, climb into bed, and fall asleep curled together.

****

Connor wakes up a full 10 hours later to the smell of coffee feeling better than he has in months. Dylan is sitting at his desk smiling to himself while he texts. Connor stretches.

“Hey. Is one of these coffee cups for me?” 

Dylan hands him one. “Good morning. I love you.” Dylan giggles. “It feels so good to say that.”

“I love you too.” Connor knows he's blushing and he's smiling so hard his face hurts. “What time is it?” 

“Almost noon. How long can you stay?” 

“Umm… Until tomorrow? I mean, I've just resigned myself to missing the classes. I think we all need the day to rest. The guys booked a room at a motel. Do you wanna meet 'em?”

“Of course. I mean they drove you all the way here. It's the least I could do.” Dylan tangles their fingers together. “Let's go meet your friends.” 

****

They meet up at a diner not far from campus.

“So guys… this is my um… my boyfriend, Dylan.” He shoots Dylan a shy glance and he's nodding and grinning and it's the best sight Connor's ever seen. He knows he's a little red faced but it's okay because Dylan, his boyfriend, is holding his hand. “And this is Hallsy, Nuge, and Ebs.” 

Hallsy pulls Dylan into a hug. “Nice to meet ya, kid. If you break his heart, I'll drive back down here and kill you.”

“No plans to. Nice to meet you too.” 

They cram into a booth, Hallsy, Nuge and Ebs on one side, Connor and Dylan on the other. They don't stop holding hands until their food comes and even then their elbows brush as they eat. It's everything Connor hoped it would be. 

Connor and Dylan get dropped back off at his dorm where they spend the afternoon trading lazy kisses and trying their best to make up for lost time and store a little up for the long distance. It’s not enough but it'll do.

**Author's Note:**

> Connor played high school hockey and Dylan was the team manager. That's how they met.
> 
> Dylan did not fall in love instantly. It took being many many miles of distance, a very large German student named Leon to be jealous of, and drunkenly making out with Mitch at a party to realize he was in love with Connor. This happens pretty quickly once college starts honestly. 
> 
> Dylan wants to be a physical therapist because he once needed one. He doesn't mind. He is very happy with how his life turned out. 
> 
> Where was Mitch while Connor was visiting? Dylan asked him to make himself scarce because they had such limited time. He was at his boyfriend Auston’s. Auston is an art history major for the aesthetic.
> 
> What were Hallsy, Nuge and Ebs doing all afternoon while Connor and Dylan were together? That's a story for another time ;D 
> 
>  
> 
> Please ask me questions. I have a lot of thoughts about these boys and this universe.


End file.
